Good Evening: In my research of the STOCKTON Family of Princeton, Mercer County, NJ and a POTTER family of Charleston, Charleston County, SC I came across some very interesting connections. For the past several months I have looked rather closely at the John POTTER (1765-1849) family of Charleston as being possibly related to my POTTER bunch out of St. Croix, Dutch West Indies. Most persons who are familiar with the early families of Morgan County know the RICHTERS of Madison descend from the RICHTER and POTTER families of St. Croix. In fact, Anne Eliza POTTER (1808-1863) is buried in the Madison City Cemetery with her husband, Charles W. RICHTER, Sr. (1807-1884). We have never been able to assign Anne Eliza's father, Sir. Arthur POTTER (1788-1843), Governor General of the DWI, to a POTTER line but one thing that has come down through the family is that he had a brother named, John POTTER. In Charleston was a merchant named, John POTTER who was married to a Catherine FULLER (1769-1848). According to the story handed down in this family this John POTTER came from Ballymoran, Down, Ireland and founded a merchant empire in Charleston. His two children that I am interested in are his son, James POTTER (1793-1862) and daughter, Harriet Maria POTTER (1801-1862). James POTTER married (2nd) Sarah Jones GRIMES, d/o Dr. John Wesley GRIMES, Jr. and Catherine Jones GLENN of Savannah, Chatham County, GA. His sister, Harriett Maria POTTER married Commodore Robert Field STOCKTON, USN of Princeton, Mercer County, NJ. One of Dr. James GRIMES, Jr. and Sarah Jones GLENN's daughters, Catherine Elizabeth POTTER (b. 1829) married Phillip POULLAIN (b. 1824) , s/o Thomas Noel POULLAIN and Harriet Byron WRAY if Greensboro, Greene County, GA. Phillip was a younger brother of Antoine POULLAIN, Sr (1815-1900) who married Rebecca Louisa LAMAR (1841-1878), d/o George Washington LAMAR and Sarah Walker HARLOW and Antoine and Rebecca were the ancestors of many of the POULLAIN family of Madison, GA. Catherine and Phillip POULLAIN lived in Greensboro, Greene County, GA, which brings us to another Morgan County, GA connection in this bunch. The father of Sarah Jones GRIMES was Dr. John Wesley GRIMES, Jr and he was the son of John W. GRIMES, Sr. RS-VA and Elizabeth Terrell WINGFIELD of Greensboro, Greene County, GA. I am sure I do not have to tell Morgan County, GA researcher how many families from this area descend from the TERRELL and WINGFIELD families. This brings us back to the STOCKTONS of Princeton, NJ. I have long known the grandmother of Alice Elizabeth DANIEL (1854-1924) who married John RICHTER of Madison was Elizabeth STOCKTON (1808-1888), who was the wife of Rev. Russell RENEAU (1807-1865) of the GA Conference of the Methodist Church. In fact Elizabeth lived with the RICHTERS in Madison for much of the period after the death of her husband, Rev. RENEAU. Our best information says she was probably the daughter of Samuel STOCKTON, son of Richard STOCKTON, Esq. of Princeton, NJ. Back to Commodore STOCKTON, in 1860 he supervised the building of the USS Monitor for the Navy in NYC. The person who built the Monitor was John ERICCSON, a naval architect who had invented the screw propeller some years before. One of Anne Eliza POTTER's sister was Mary Elizabeth POTTER and like all of the children she was born in St. Croix. Family records say that she married Henry ERICSSON, "brother of the inventor." James, unlike some of his family never left the South but remained in his home in Savannah, where he died in 1862 but his body was interred in the family plot in Trinity Church, Princeton, Mercer County, New Jersey. Yet, most of his sons and son in laws served the Confederacy while his brother-in-law was building ships that helped to defeat the south. In fact, James's son, LT. John Hamilton POTTER, CSA of the 63rd GA VIR, was wounded in the Battle of Atlanta and died in Macon, Bibb County, GA some days later. He, too, was buried in Trinity Church, Princeton, Mercer County, New Jersey. All of this is very interesting - family fighting family. John Hamilton POTTER married Annie Beirne STEENBERGEN on 23 Jul 1863 in Savannah, Chatham County, GA (by Bishop Stephen Elliot, Rector of Christ Church) and I would almost bet that "Bernie" is BURNEY, a family long associated with the WINGFIELDS of Morgan and Greene County, GA. I have no proof that John POTTER of Charleston and Sir Arthur POTTER of St.Croix are related but I would almost bet they were due to these circular connections and these connection go all the way through, New Jersey, Philadelphia, PA, Charleston, Savannah and end up, once again, in Madison, Morgan County, GA GA when Alice Elizabeth DANIEL marries John RICHTER, Sr. in 1872. I also have not been able to dig my DANIEL family of Burke and Jefferson County, GA out of the Thomas DANIEL, Jr. and Sarah BURNEY family of Greene County, GA but there are a lot of interesting links to this bunch in my overall family. This Thomas was the son of Thomas DANIEL, Sr. and Elizabeth LANIER of Tyrrell County, NC -- or so it appears and there are Pitt County, NC connections all over his bunch, as well as my bunch in Burke County, GA. However, it is interesting to note that John POTTER died in 1849 at his plantation, named Morven, which is in Anson County, North Carolina, which was the ancestral home of the BURNEYS before they moved to Martin and Pitt County, NC. Commodore Robert STOCKTON and his family also relocated to this plantation after the CW. That different STOCKTON-POTTER allegiances seen in this example are also found in the RENEAU family where cousins also fought cousins during the CW. In 1862 at the Battle of South Mountain, MD, 1st SGT Russell R. RENEAU, Alice DANIEL's uncle, died fighting against a PA Regiment in which his cousin, Lt. Jesse RENO, who also died in this battle, was an officer. This is exactly the reason we in the South revere our ancestors who fought and died in that war, which cost the lives of about 625.000 Americans, we had so many who fought and died on both sides. John R. Clarke Feel free to visit my website at: www.outdoorwriter.com